Dw. Haas, SIMULATION OF CONDYLAR GROWTH IN THE CAT WITH PULSATING ELECTROMAGNETIC CURRENTS, American journal of orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, 108(6), 1995, pp. 599-606
Orthodontists have been, and are, interested in influencing facial gro
wth, specifically, mandibular growth. The purpose of this investigatio
n is to enhance condylar growth by means of electric stimulation. Eigh
t growing cats were bilaterally condylotomized and unilaterally at ran
dom received electric stimulation. Before the condylotomy bonemarkers
were implanted in the zygomatic process and above the condylotomy site
. The condylotomy effectively separated the head of the condyle from t
he body of the mandible, thus unloading the head. After 5 weeks, impla
nt separation indicated increased condylar growth on the treated side
of all eight cats. Histologically, the treated condyles of six cats we
re different from the controls in that the hypertrophic zone was irreg
ular and vascularization increased. The treated condyle showed signifi
cantly more bonemarker separation than the control condyle. On average
, the treated condyle showed 1.24 mm more separation than the control
(p = 0.001 by the paired sample t test).